"Yes, Commander. Walls do tend to hurt heads." With that, the intercom switched off.

Thirty minutes later…

Chase stepped off of the ship, entering the geth station. Looking around through her helmet, she watched Sera step off the ship after her. Chase was not comfortable letting Sera go on this station, and not just because of her inexperience. She was a quarian. She might "accidentally" damage valuable data out of hatred of the geth. But Sera had refused to stay behind. Still, one last try couldn't hurt.

"Sera. Listen to me. This is a dangerous mission. It's no time for you to go in to get revenge. Especially when you are still recovering from that wound."

Sera stared at Chase, her facemask opaque, hiding her expression. "With all due respect, I need this. I need to show these mechanical bastards that they cannot get away with this."

Chase shook her head. "And what if you damage something? Something that could tell us who is behind this attack? A computer, for example?"

"Trust me, I'll be careful, Commander. I am not sloppy. Unless I am allowed to be." Ending the conversation, Sera walked past the commander, heading into the base.

After an hour and a half of searching, Chase stopped. "Sera, there's something wrong. It's too-"

"Quiet," Sera finished. "We've barely fought any geth, and found no data. They aren't intelligent enough to hide. So where are all the geth?" Spotting a terminal, Sera went to work hacking it. As soon as she did, an explosion rang out in the next room, causing Sera to stumble back in shock. "What was that?" Answering her question, the doors opened, revealing 20 geth to each Chase and Sera. Glancing at each other, Sera and Chase immediately dove behind cover as the geth fired on them.

Holding up her pistol, Sera panted. "This was a trap. Just like…" She stopped talking. No, this was not the time to revisit Eden Prime. She could save that mourning for times of safety, not danger. Standing briefly, Sera fired 3 times. Her boasts about her pistol skills were proven accurate, as all three demolished the heads of 3 geth, causing them to fall in sparks of electricity.

Chase nodded in response to Sera's comment. "And I do hate deception. It usually ends in me being attacked." Reaching to her back, she pulled out a shotgun, shooting a geth that got a little too close in the chest, sending it to the ground into two pieces. "This is pointless. We need to get out."

"Wait," said Sera, opening her omni-tool, and then reaching up to activate the terminal, standing in order to accurately scan the data, completely focused on the monitor.

Chase's eyes widened. "Are you insane? You are going to hack that thing with 37 geth shooting at us?"

"36," replied Sera, not looking up. "And we need the info."

Gritting her teeth, Chase pulled out her SMG, standing and firing at the geth. She wasn't really aiming. Just distracting the geth. Not even glancing at the geth, Sera didn't flinch as an energy blast scorched the steel wall inches from her head. The encryption was fairly complex. Six…no, seven layers involved for the encryption, but even then, everything was scrambled. Sera smiled inside her helmet despite the danger around her. She did enjoy a challenge, after all. After what seemed like an eternity, Sera turned off her omni-tool and ran for the ship, the scrambled data on her omni-tool, ignoring Chase's warnings. Out of pure luck, none of the remaining 30 geth seemed to hit Sera. Chase wouldn't be so lucky, she knew. She prepared to stand, aiming her shotgun at the geth. At that moment, however, all the geth shut down, clattering to the steel ground in separate piles. Puzzled, Chase got back onto the ship, where Sera was standing, her head tilted to the side, leaning on the wall, arms crossed. "Like my trick?"

Chase went right up to her, her fists flexing as she narrowed her eyes. "You could have been shot or killed with that stunt you pulled! What the hell is wrong with you?"

Straightening up from the cocky slouch she had been in, Sera stared Chase right in the eyes, her own eyes narrowed through her face mask. "I was shot, actually. It's just a flesh wound. But it was worth the risk. It worked, didn't it?"

Chase's eyes narrowed even further. "Show me the wound." She raised her hand as Sera started to speak. "It's not an option, Sera. It's an order."

Sera looked away, staring at the floor. "Not gonna happen. I'll treat it on my own."

Chase's frown deepened. "I said-"

Sera looked back up at her commander. "I know what you said! I'm not deaf. But the wound is…"

Chase grabbed Sera by the shoulders, not completely gently, her eyes blazing into Sera's. "How serious is it?"

Sera didn't move, her hands twisting together to show her nervousness.. "A flesh wound, like I said. It's just in an…awkward place to have examined, if you get my meaning."

Chase stared at her, and then started chuckling despite the seriousness of the matter. "Are you telling me that you got shot in the ass running? Well, at least it wasn't your neck or back."

Sera nodded, looking away in embarrassment. "Still, I got the data. Let's get it looked at and unscrambled. That is what we came on that station to do, correct?"

Chase nodded to Sera's question. "And the sooner we take a look, the better." Taking Sera to her quarters, she sat down. Sera, however, remained standing due to her wound. "What do you have, Sera?"

Sera looked at her omni-tool. "Give me a few moments." Focusing on her omni-tool, she tapped a few keys, tilting her head to the side. "Interesting…it's some sort of corrupted message. From what I can see, there was some sort of signal sent from Feros a few minutes before the attack on Eden Prime."

Chase nodded. "Then Feros is our next stop. Is there any way to track where on Feros that signal came from?"

Sera looked at her. "I believe I can narrow it down further, given time. How long until we reach Feros?"

Chase leaned back, looking up at the ceiling. "I'd say…3 hours."

Sera crossed her arms. "That's an awfully long time to wait. I can finish the tracking in one. What am I supposed to do with the last two? I can't even sit and twiddle my thumbs, as you humans say, thanks to my…condition."

Chase shrugged. "Sorry to hear you feel that way. But I can't speed up time just to get you your revenge." She looked back at Sera. "Listen to me, Sera. You've been shot once already. It was just a flesh wound. You got lucky. Next time, you might not be."

Sera looked down briefly, but then looked back up. "This was the second time, remember? And I was more injured the first time. This was, as you said, a flesh wound. I'm not going to stop my hunt, ever. I know you want me to stay behind, but I need to go with you to investigate. This is my mission as much as yours, if not even moreso. You could throw me off this ship, and I'd still find a way to continue my hunt. Either I'll die, or the person responsible for the attack will."

Chase nodded. "Fair enough. I can't fault your conviction. I just…don't want to see you hurt again, Sera. And it's my job, as your commander, to make sure that you don't get hurt. Or die."

Sera looked up. "I understand, Shep-Commander." Turning, she headed into the elevator, going to her own private quarters to tend to her wound.

Chase turned on the intercom. "Set course for Feros. I think the path is starting to clear up for us."

"Aye, aye, Captain," said Rusty's voice from the cockpit. "And what do you mean, 'us'? I'm just taking you around. I ain't getting off this ship. You can get shot. I'll take your body home if you want. But I'm not about to get myself shot. That's why I fly, and you shoot."

"I wasn't talking about you, Rusty. I was referring to Ser-the quarian. She needs to know what happened, and we are getting closer to finding out."

"Careful, Captain. You are starting to get a bit casual with our temporary passenger, aren't you? I mean, she's going to get her answers, you'll take her to the Citadel, and that will be that."

Chase nodded. "Of course, Rusty. This is just a temporary set-up. But that doesn't mean I can't get to know her while she is on my crew."

"'Get to know her'? Is that what they're calling it now?" Rusty chuckled, then continued before Chase could make a snide comment. "Point taken, Commander. 'Out of line', 'stripped of rank', 'court-martialed'. I apologize. Mouth operates faster than brain."